Thirteen
~Kana's POV~
Coming back from lunchtime there was a certain energy among everyone as they all re-entered the arena.
Lunch had been with her fellow students, but Kana had been texting with Shina and her brothers, just catching up with how they expected this next half to go and how proud Shina was of them. She also reminded them to not go all out against their classmates as that would most likely raise some questions with any law enforcement agencies watching.
"Are you sure you don't want to join in on this Kana?" Momo asked, breaking Kana out of her thoughts. Kana blinked at her and flinched away from the outfit Momo was holding out to her. "It is what Mr. Aizawa told Denki and the other classmate." Kana had her suspicions about Denki's word on this one.
"I'd rather hear it from Mr. Aizawa myself." Kana answered. "I just find it a bit odd that he didn't say anything to us beforehand, ya know?"
"She has a good point." Asuyu said. Kana watched as the rest of the 1A girls talked about it among themselves. Class 1B girls were a bit further away but they also looked to be talking about this themselves. While Kana knew this probably wasn't the best prank (if that is what it was) to play on them, she could see the indecision on their faces.
"If Aizawa wanted us to do this why didn't he mention it to us sooner? Or have Denki or the grape head bring us a note with the uniforms?" She asked logically "I mean it's a good thing Momo can make the uniforms but this seems sketchy to me."
"I suppose it does." Uraraka said. The other girls from 1B came over to them.
"Is she going to get changed?" A girl with a literal mushroom head asked indicating Kana.
"I am not." Kana stated firmly. "Because I don't believe Mr. Aizawa or your teacher would leave this kind of thing to the last minute. Have you heard your teacher mention this before?"
"No." The redhead with a side ponytail said. She looked like she was feeling as suspicious as Kana. "We were talking about this earlier also. I mean, Mineta is always doing some pervy thing."
"This would be something he would do?" Uraraka asked in shock.
"It is truly heinous and despicable of his character as he is often sordid about his perversions." The vine haired girl spoke.
"But Denki wouldn't do something like this right?" Jirou asked Kana. Kana honestly didn't think he would as Denki was her friend, practically her best friend but she didn't know him well enough to dispute this.
"I honestly don't know." Kana admitted. "I mean he's never done anything perverted towards me or any of us."
"Yeah mainly because your brothers would murder him on the spot if he did." Asuyu stated. Kana had to agree with that.
"But how do we really know?" Mina asked blinking her big eyes at them innocently. Kana got an idea.
"Hold up," She pulled out her phone and quickly dialed a number. The phone rang a few times before it was answered.
'Hello?' Kana out the phone on loudspeaker for all the girls to hear.
"Hey Denki, did Aizawa really tell you he wanted us to dress in cheerleader uniforms?"
'Yeah.' Kana narrowed her eyes at her phone as she heard the slight uptick in his voice.
"Denki, are you lying to me?"
'What? No! I would never-' Kana looked at the other 1A girls who were looking at her doubtfully.
"I don't believe you Kaminari." Kana sighed.
'Dude stop. I swear I am not lying to you Kana.' In the background there was clearly frantic whispering going on that was very telling. Kana felt her anger spark but she spoke calmly and clearly.
"Denki, I'm going to give you a fifteen second head start before I hunt you down with the rest of the 1A and 1B girls. When we catch you, because we will, it will not be merciful. You can tell Mineta his death will come from James and Yuto."
'I'M SORRY HE MADE ME!' Denki yelled into the phone making the girls flinch at his loud volume.
'DUDE WHAT THE HECK?!' A high reedy voice that Kana assumed was Mineta came.
'THIS WAS YOUR IDEA. IM NOT DYING FOR YOU. KANA I DIDN'T MEAN TO DO THIS I SWEAR!'
"Kaminari." Momo growled out.
"This is low even for you Kaminari." Jirou spoke up.
"How dare you Mineta?" The mushroom haired girl spoke up.
"I honestly can't believe he would try this." The orange haired girl spoke.
"So disappointed in you Denki." Kana added before she hung up, cutting off his pleading.
"Are you really going to go after him?" Asuyu asked. Kana smiled wickedly.
"No. But he thinks I will which honestly is the best revenge I can do right now."
"Point." Asuyu nodded. "We should change back."
"Or…" Hagakure spoke up. "We could do the cheer."
"Why?" Kana asked.
"Why not? I mean we're already dressed besides you. It could be fun. A group activity with us girls?"
"Oh, we can hype up our classmates." Uraraka seemed to beam at them. "Just think how much fun this will be!" Kana was ready to leave this conversation and go back to the arena, but a large hand appeared in front of the door blocking her in. Kana looked to the orange haired girl who smile at her.
"Consider this a group effort to lure in Mineta and Denki so we can kick their butts." Kana thought about it before she glanced at the puppy dog eyes the other girls were giving her. Her own will faltered and crumbled.
"Alright fine." The girls cheered.
"WELCOME BACK! WE HAVE GOOD NEWS FOR THOSE WHO DID NOT MAKE THE FINAL LINE UP. SINCE THIS IS A SPORTS FESTIVAL WE'VE PREPARED A RECREATIONAL ACTIVITY FOR EVERYONE! WE'VE EVEN SHIPPED IN CHEERLEADERS FROM THE US- UH, WHAT THE- WELL THIS IS A SURPRISE FROM OUR VERY OWN GIRLS FROM THE HERO COURSE"
"Why are you wearing that?" James asked when Kana came out onto the field with the rest of the 1A and 1B girls. Kana glared at him.
"Say anything at all, and I will murder you, you Black Panther wannabe." James snorted.
"He doesn't have a tail." Kana rolled her eyes.
"HOPE EVERYONE ENJOYS THIS LITTLE RECREATIONAL COMPETITION! ONCE THAT'S OVER WE WILL MOVE ONTO OUR FINAL EVENT! FOR THE FINAL MEMBERS, WE ARE GOING TO HAVE A 1V1 BATTLE!"
"A tournament huh?" Kirishima made a fist in excitement. "So, we'll be in that ring I see on TV every year."
"Was it a tournament last year too?" Mina asked.
"The format is always different, but most years involve some kind of head-to-head competition." Sero said.
"Which is why we trained so specifically for this." Kana murmured to her brothers as her validation. She had told them about the 1V1 match ups in the beginning when they had brainstormed on training.
"The match ups will be decided based on drawing lots." Midnight announced. "Once that's done we will move onto the festivities and then go into the tournament itself. If any of you finalists would like to bow out for any reason, now is your time." Kana glanced around at the other finalists but no one else volunteered to withdraw. "Let's draw lots." Midnight called their teams to draw lots based on which teams had placed first and on down the line.
Kana wasn't going to lie to herself. She knew she'd been on a team, but she didn't fully remember what her team dynamic had been as she only remembered the purple haired boy asking her to join teams with him. Anything after that had been a vague dream that she had only come out of after she'd been hit by Yuto's shadow weapon when they'd played tug of war for the 10-million-point headband. She'd lost the headband due to coming back to herself and realizing where and what she was doing.
Her 'captain', the purple haired boy, hadn't stayed around long enough to inform her of what kind of team they'd been, she hadn't expected him to. She had firsthand knowledge and experience with someone with a brain altering Quirk and she knew they were a secretive bunch. She just hoped she got the chance to face him so she could kick his butt herself for doing that to her.
Kana watched as the board lit up above them to show their first match ups.
Midoriya VS. Shinsou
Sero VS Todoroki
Yuto VS Denki
James VS. Iida
Mina VS Aoyama
Kirishima VS Kana
Yaoyarozu VS Tokoyami
Uraraka VS. Bakugou
"Yuto," Kana looked at her little brother who hummed, not looking away from the board. "Do me a favor, go easy on Denki."
"I'll try." He grinned at her. Kana rolled her eyes, but the action caused her to see the purple haired boy heading for Midoriya. Kana frowned and quickly walked over to them. She didn't see why the boy had a reason to go see Midoriya unless he was Shinsou himself and was probably wanting to have Midoriya withdraw before their fight or do some brainwashing that would cause him to lose. Midoriya deserved to know what she did if she expected him to kick Shinsou's butt.
"Izuku Midoriya, that's you huh?" Kana's hand covered Midoriya's mouth before he could respond. He did let out an indignant sound and looked at her, but Kana was giving Shinsou a cold look that he grunted at before he left.
"Midoriya, I need to talk to you." Kana looked over at Uraraka who was watching them curiously. "Uraraka, I need to talk with Midoriya, can you guys do the cheer without me? It's regarding his fight with Shinsou."
"Oh uh, okay." Kana nodded and created a portal under her and Midoriya that took them to the waiting room.
"Where did you go? Thought you were going to do a cheer for our school in your cute little outfit." James asked as Kana sat down beside him. Midoriya and Shinsou were getting into position down below in the arena.
"Shut it you Oompa Loompa reject. I had to talk to Midoriya about his opponent."
"Why?"
"Shinsou has a Quirk that deals with some brain altering." Kana answered him in a low voice. Her completely serious tone had his immediate attention. "I'm not sure about the limitations but I'm guessing it takes effect when you respond to him."
"Explains why you refused to be on a team with Yuto and myself when we asked you." James stated, folding his arms. "I thought you were still mad at me."
"Mah, I forgot about that." Kana waved it off. "Right now, I'm more interested in seeing Shinsou get his butt kicked. I told Midoriya how to avoid falling into that brain fog but, who knows?" She shrugged. "He may or may not follow it."
"This is Midoriya, he's smart."
"So am I." Kana answered. James hummed in agreement. They watched, silently assessing both Midoriya and Shinsou as the match began. Kana felt frustration go through her when she realized that Midoriya was being baited into replying to Shinsou. That frustration turned to irritation when Midoriya allowed Shinsou to get under his skin and he responded to Shinsou. Kana accepted the fact that she would just have to kick his butt herself in the tournament when the tides turned and Midoriya broke through the brain fog. Kana watched in interest as Midoriya froze an inch from going out of bounds. He then turned and physically shoved Shinsou out of the ring, winning the match.
"Well, I wasn't expecting that outcome." James said drily.
"No." Kana agreed. "No, we weren't. But Midoriya is interesting when he fights. It's like he hasn't had his Quirk for too long or it's too strong for him."
"Looks like we need to keep watching him then." James stated.
The next match was Sero VS Todoroki. Sero was quick to attack as everyone knew Todoroki's fighting skills. It was smart to try and get him out as fast as possible. The response from Todoroki came as a shock to everyone as a large glacier formed. Kana and James were almost too slow to react as they leaned back in their seats to avoid being caught in the ice.
"OH JESUS!" Kana shouted.
"If I wanted to be a catsicle I'd put myself in the freezer." James said.
"Least we aren't Yuto." Kana stated. They both looked down to see Yuto using a shadow sword to break out of the ice that had formed directly in front of him, trapping him in his seat.
"Does he have to be such a showoff?" Yuto moaned.
They had to wait for the arena to defrost before the next match could begin. Which was Yuto VS Denki.
"Alright Denki! Let's go Denki!" Mina cheered.
"You got this Yuto!" Shoji yelled.
"Kick his butt Yuto! Or I'll disown you!" James shouted. Kana elbowed James before yelling out her encouragement. Yuto and Denki seemed to talk for a while before Denki charged up his body to release his largest voltage he had. The shock blinded everyone, leaving afterimages in Kana's eyes that she had to blink away several times. When she could see semi-well again, Kana saw Denki giving thumbs up. Yuto wasn't in the arena making everyone confused, at least until shadows under Denki grew and Yuto popped out. He merely grabbed Denki's hand and walked him over the line before patting his head like Denki was a puppy.
"Man, I thought Denki would have learned." Sero sighed.
"At least he was nicer about winning than Todoroki was." Kirishima stated.
"I'm glad about that." Kana said. "But I have a feeling this next match is gonna end differently." Everyone watched the next match start between Iida and James. Kana knew James wouldn't try and talk as they were a good match. With Iida's speed and James' agility and power, it was going to be close. James dodged Iida's running swipes and managed to vault over Iida when he got too close. When James had to destroy the arena floor with a Chaos Sphere, Iida lost the advantage he had as he wasn't very good at navigating the terrain if it wasn't somewhat flat. James bounced through the destroyed rubble, playing with Iida who hadn't realized how close he was getting to the edge of the arena. James launched himself at Iida's chest, using him as a springboard to shove him over the boundary line.
"That was so manly!" Kirishima yelled.
"That was actually intelligent of him." Kana said in surprise. "I had no idea he had that in him."
"And yet, somehow, he still always loses to me in Chess." Yuto stated in wonderment.
"I cannot believe that Iida was so close." Uraraka gushed. "I hope he's not too disappointed."
"The purpose of failure is to learn from it." Momo spoke up. "If he does not, then the lesson is wasted."
The fight between Mina and Aoyama was quick and ended with Mina winning against Aoyama after she damaged his belt that shot a bright light from his belly button. Kana stood up and stretched.
"Alright Kirishima, you ready for this rocky?"
"Don't be too sad when I win." Kirishima grinned at her.
"Kick his butt Kana!" James called.
"You got this Kana." Tsu croaked.
"I have absolute faith in you Kana!" Denki called.
"Hey what about me?" Kirishima called to their classmates.
"You're fine Kiri." Yuto snickered as Kiri slumped forward. Kana sighed,
"Come on shark boy, let's go."
"My Quirk is Hardening, I'm not a fish." Kirishima said in bewilderment.
"Yeah but your teeth are razor sharp." She pointed out.
"I don't swim." Kirishima said before he started to correct himself. "I mean I can swim but I-" Kana found his stuttering adorable and just let him talk for a while more until they entered the arena. The cheering people were by this time background noise. "You ready for this?"
"Long as you don't mind me kicking your butt." Kana smirked at him. He blinked before he smiled.
"You can try." Kana rolled her eyes as they both positioned themselves on the floor, facing each other.
"Begin!"
Kirishima brought his arms up, hardening his skin. Kana took a deep breath and let it out before she ran forward. Kirishima was ready for her as he swung his arms open ready to grab her but Kana instead jumped to one side, grabbing Kirishima by the wrist and smirked. He saw the smirk and her intending to throw him through a portal she was opening in front of them. He pulled back out of her reach, not wanting to go through it.
Kana stepped closer as if to grab him but he stumbled backward.
"Kana wins!" Kirishima blinked at Kana's beaming face. He had stepped backward through a portal she had opened behind him that opened to outside the boundary circle.
"That was so not manly Kana." Kirishima groaned.
"Sorry Kiri, but," Kana shrugged. "You hit hard. I didn't want to face those bruises." Kirishima thought about it and shrugged.
"It's okay Kana. I understand."
"Good job you two, nice sportsmanship." Midnight said. "Head on back up to your seats."
"Yes ma'am!" They chorused as they both started walking back to their class's seats.
"Good job in tricking me to back up." Kirishima said on their way.
"I'm just glad it worked." Kana stated in excitement. "It was either that or try and get you with an ocean spray."
"You've gotten faster in opening those portals." Kirishima complimented. Kana nodded.
"We trained for the past 2 weeks pretty hard. I was mainly focused on my portals and how fast I could open them. I still can't open a whole lot at the same time but at least I can open them silently."
"Couldn't you always open them silently?" Kirishima asked thinking back to previous times Kana had opened her portals.
"Yeah but when I do, there is usually the smell of metal in the air. And it gets colder. Not that you can feel it when you go through them of course " Kirishima smiled.
"You're doing awesome."
"Aw thanks Kiri, you're a good friend." Kana started to head to the waiting room for the vending machines when Kiri stopped her.
"Uh, the seats are this way, remember?" He pointed to the right.
"I'm gonna get a water bottle from the waiting room down here. I forgot mine at lunch. It was probably thrown out by now."
"Oh sure, yeah. Do you want me to come with you?"
"No it's okay Kiri, I'm just grabbing water. I'll be up soon." Kirishima nodded and they went their separate ways.
Kana was true to her words about wanting her water. As soon as she got her water she headed back up. She did run into Uraraka though.
"Kana! There you are." Kana waved and smiled at the girl. "Did you get lost?"
"No just wanted to get some water." She held up the water bottle she'd taken from the waiting room she'd found. "What about you? Is your match already here?" Uraraka looked nervous.
"Yeah. I've been in the waiting room trying to psych myself up but… it's Bakugou you know?" Kana nodded in understanding. "I know I probably won't win since he's so powerful and… blood thirsty but I'm hoping to at least make an impression on the heroes who are watching." Kana understood all too well what Uraraka was thinking.
"Yeah you don't have to say it. It's pretty scary. Not just about fighting that angry Pomeranian and doing good in the heroes eyes but also, making your parents proud." Uraraka's eyes widened. "I get it, you want to succeed and I hope you do. I really do. But," Kana knew no matter how good Uraraka was, she wasn't going to defeat Bakugou. He literally had to much firepower. Still it was majorly depressing to say what she did next. "Even if you don't, I promise I'll kick his butt for both of us." Uraraka sweat dropped.
"Gee thanks. You have no hope in me do you?"
"I know your good. But that angry Pomeranian has been waiting for this kind of thing all year. He's not going to blow this, especially with that declaration he made about being #1" Kana muttered that last part under her breath. She cleared her throat and continued, "Just do your best and hit him with your best shot." Uraraka's face cleared of any doubts, pulling on a strong face she nodded.
"Right!" Kana watched Uraraka walk to the arena. Looking at her retreating figure Kana wondered, if there was any alternate universe where Uraraka won this. She decided not to think on this and went up to the stands to watch this fight.
~James' POV~
"Took you long enough. Did you have an asthma attack?" James asked when Kana sat down. She didn't look any worse from when she had gone down for her match, but he knew she was good at hiding things like her emotions. At least when it wasn't anger she was feeling.
"No, I passed Uraraka on the way down." Kana answered. James felt a flash of pity before he tossed that aside and looked down on his two classmates.
"Man she's going to get demolished."
"Aw come on J, be nice!" Denki, who was sitting in front of him turned around. "Just because Bakugou is… Bakugou, doesn't mean Uraraka won't win."
"Right," James drawled. "And what training experience has taught you that Bakugou doesn't do anything half-glass?"
"'Half-glass?'" Kana asked, amused.
"You know what I mean." James sighed, not wanting to defend his choice of speech. "Bakugou isn't exactly one to take pity on an opponent. He's always pushing himself to be better or stronger. That's way more dedication than all of us, well maybe except Midoriya."
"W-what?" Midoriya's voice chimed in. "When did I get pulled into this?"
"Don't mind it Midoriya." Kana spoke up. "James just means Uraraka may be good but considering Bakugou is a demon who very loudly stated he was going to win, there's nothing that's going to save Uraraka or any of his future opponents from making this a reality."
"You don't have any faith in me or Todoroki?" Tokoyami asked.
"Yeah what makes you think none of them will win?" Sero asked. "I mean Todoroki was absolutely merciless against me, but he could also do the same thing to Bakugou." James sighed as he moved back to watching the fight.
"Because Bakugou has determination and the will to win." Yuto answered as the match began. They watched silently as Uraraka charged against Bakugou who didn't move at all. He blasted her away from him, most likely to stop her from touching him. It really was a shame, James thought, Uraraka was determined in her own way, but it barely compared to Bakugou's own determination. He watched as she navigated the battlefield to bring about the most damage while also trying to stay low, so Bakugou didn't look up and see that her Quirk on the rubble that was torn from the floor was waiting to come crashing down from above.
When Bakugou realized the rocky shower from above only to destroy them James figured it would work that way. He wasn't sure how this match was going to go, but he did know Bakugou was going to win. Still, he watched as Uraraka slumped forward unconscious, she had put up a valiant effort to fight against Bakugou. James could respect the attempt.
"That was horrible to watch." Mina sighed.
"Man, he didn't hold back." Kirishima said. "So unmanly."
"What a brute." Momo sniffed. James glanced at Kana who shook her head at him. James opened his mouth, but Yuto beat him to it.
"Uraraka had a good plan, but against Bakugou, it was always doomed to fail. After all, we've seen him in training, as merciless against all of us during that, did any of you expect him to lower those levels just to cater to his opponents needs?" No answer so Yuto continued. "If any of us did that, our opponents would feel cheated. He may be a 'brute' but he didn't attack her unnecessarily."
"That said you better not go easy on me during our fight." James stated to the air. "Because I won't go easy on you."
"THAT'S THE END OF THE FIRST ROUND. WE'LL TAKE A SHORT BREAK AND MOVE ONTO THE NEXT ROUND OF FIGHTS WHICH ARE UP ON THE BOARD!" Present Mic's voice had their class and his own eyes looking to view the boards as they changed to reflect the next round of fights.
Midoriya VS Todoroki
Bakugou VS Tokoyami
James VS Yuto
Mina VS Kana
"Don't worry J, I won't go easy on you." Yuto gave him a feral grin that James returned. Kana sighed.
"You idiots better not destroy the arena."
GM NASAI: I hate writing fight scenes. And I'm not even done yet!